MINNEAPOLIS.– The Twins announced Monday that Puerto Rican star shortstop Carlos Correa He will not be part of the Puerto Rican roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, to be played in March, due to the birth of his second child.
According to the club, the decision was made based entirely on family considerations and is not related to Correa’s health. The 28-year-old is coming off a tumultuous offseason, in which two free agent deals ended up falling through due to medical concerns on the part of teams.
Carlos and Daniella Correa await the birth of their second child, Kenzo, on March 11. Puerto Rico will play the first round of Group D from March 11 to 15, while the second part of the tournament will be from March 15 to 21. Although Correa still hoped to find a way to represent the Isla del Encanto, he and the Twins eventually came to an agreement that he would not play in the WBC.
“After some very serious conversations with Carlos about the upcoming WBC, as a group we decided it was in his best interest not to participate in the tournament,” Minnesota baseball operations chairman Derek Falvey said. “This was a difficult decision for Carlos. He takes a lot of pride in representing his country and really considered options to make this work.
“Ultimately, as we looked at the travel he was going to have to do with the birth of his second child – due to be born during the WBC – we all recognized that the round trips, combined with the multiple days off from baseball activities, were not going to to allow Carlos to jump at once to play important games right after his return ”.
If Correa had contested the WBC, he likely would have gone from being in non-competitive form on paternity leave away from the field for several days to a high-intensity championship environment and then finally getting in shape for the MLB regular season.
Via: mlb.com
